Kensington Swan's view on aspects of the construction industry

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Monthly Archives: July 2016

The Independent Hearing Panel recently released its recommendations on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. The recommendations have been a long time coming and represent the beginning of the end for the process. For more information view our Environmental and Planning Law team’s newsflash on the update here.

MBIE have called for submissions on proposals to amend 32 existing Acceptable Solutions and Verification Methods, update references to standards and industry documents cited in the Acceptable Solutions and Verification Methods, and introduce two new Acceptable Solutions. The two new Acceptable Solutions concern waterproofing and the updates cover changes to the requirements for glass…

A number of recent surveys have shown that the housing market boom is fuelling demand for construction workers and leading to business growth for manufacturers and construction focussed businesses. An ANZ survey of job advertisements found job ads in building and construction rose for the fifth consecutive month in June, with most regions experiencing a…

Commerce Commission has this month issued approval for Fletcher Building’s acquisition of Higgins Group. It was the Commission’s view that the merger would not substantially reduce competition in regions where the two rival firms operate. The approval covers Higgins’ road surfacing and road maintenance, civil structure and construction products, including most of its aggregates and…

Like the rest of the current news cycle, construction related news (and our largely Brexit themed blogs this week) is all about the #Brexit. Fletcher Construction, which claims to have 30 years of work in the pipeline, is set to hold a recruitment event in London later this month with the aim of attracting senior…

For many years construction companies in Hong Kong have been struggling to hire the number of skilled workers required to meet the level of development in the region. Statistics published in 2015 by a Hong Kong construction company, Gammon Construction, indicated that the company needed 11 percent more workers. In specific areas of work, such…

Researchers have found that Beijing is slowly sinking, in some areas at the rate of 11cm per year. The recent study revealed that an increased consumption of groundwater is causing soil compaction, leading to subsidence of the 20 million inhabitant city. The rate of subsidence varies, and the uneven sinking could cause serious problems…

The UK’s referendum on Brexit has had a significant impact on the world economy, one of the most significant effects has been on the construction industry in the UK. In our previous blog post we commented on the potential effect on the construction industry as the Brexit details are finalised in the next 2-3 years.…